El-zaurak, the Boat, was represented by the chief stars of the Phœnix. El-delv, the Well-Bucket, represented by the Square of Pegasus, occurred more frequently than any other, as is shown by the star-names relating to it—El-ferg, El-arkûwa, El-khereb, and Elnaâïm. Elna’sch, the Bier, was applied to the well-known quadrangle in the Great and Little Bear. The term particularly signifies the death-bier, and taken in this sense each of the two biers is accompanied by three mourning women—Benât—biers and mourners combined are called Benât na’sch, literally Daughters of the Bier, i. e., belonging to the Bier.
El-salîb, the Cross: one of these was referred to under the four stars on the head of the Dragon, which others regarded as four mother camels. A second was found in the stars of the Dolphin.
El-serîr, El-khursi, El-arsch, various kinds of Thrones. One, named Serîr benât na’sch, was represented by seven stars standing in the form of a bow on the head of the Great Bear, which were also called El-hhûd, the Pond. Two other thrones under the names Khursi, or Arsch el-dschauzâ, were distinguished under four stars of Eridanus, and four in the Hare, and yet another, named Arsch el-simâkh el-a’zal, in the stars of the Crow.
El-nidâm and El-nedm, every set of things arranged in a row, especially the Pearl Necklace, which was the name given to the four stars 1, 2, 3, 4, and Phi of the Whale standing in a straight line, and the three on Orion’s Belt. Synonymous with this, among words taken in their common acceptation is El-nasak, a name used for two rows of stars in the upper part of the Snake and Hercules, which also has a picturesqueness about it, since the two rows were regarded as hurdles around the meadow on which the above-mentioned shepherd pastures his flock.
El-fikrat, El-fekâr, and El-kelâda, the Brooch: the first of these appears as the name of the stars on the vertebra of the Scorpion’s tail; the second, for Orion’s Belt; the third, for stars of the Archer. El-dschauzâ, the Nuts, and El-lekat, the Golden-grains or Spangles. The former name was used for the stars of Orion and the neighboring Twins collectively, the latter merely for those on Orion’s Sword. Finally, to this class belongs El-khaf el-chadîb and El-khaf el-dschedsmâ, the Dyed and the Mutilated Hand, which figures were represented by the five chief stars of Cassiopeia and the five better known on the head of the Whale. Several of these figures, as we have seen, appear at more than one place in the sky. Hence arose, for astronomers at least, the necessity for distinguishing epithets. Thus the Cross on the head of the Dragon was called “the falling,” the Tent in the Crow “the southern,” one of the Biers “the smaller,” the other, “the greater”; one of the thrones in the vicinity of Orion, “the front”; the other, “the back.”
When these distinctions are wanting, as in the case of the Athâfis, it is probably because the astronomers only made use of the one in the Dragon. Ulug Bekh does not name the other in the Lyre; Kazwini also states that it only occurred in the speech of the common people.
There is still a third and very numerous class of genuine Arabic star-names, which, borrowed neither from animate nor inanimate objects, are consequently names that do not represent any figures. They owe their origin to many circumstances, the majority of which are lost to us. I will content myself with mentioning only a few of them whose origin is not shrouded in doubt.
The small star over the middle of the Great Bear’s tail is called El-suhâ, the Forgotten, the Lost, because it is only noticeable to a sharp eye; also El-saidak, the Touchstone (test-stone), because by it the eyesight was tested; Arcturus, Hâris el-semâ, the Warder of the Heavens, because it is never entirely lost in the rays of the sun; Capella, Rakîb el-thorejâ, the Watchman of the Pleiades, because it rises at the same time as they do; Alpha (Aldebaran), in the Bull, Hhâdi el-nedschm, the Driver of the Seven Stars; also El-tâbi and El-debarân, the Follower, because it rises immediately after that constellation; Beta (Denebola) in the Lion, El-serfa, the Breaker-up (Upsetter), because at its rising and setting in the morning twilight the hot and cold weather change; Alpha (Ras Alhague) in the Watersnake; El-ferd, the Isolated, because it is situated in a starless region, etc. Besides this, among this class we must include the Su’ûd, or fortunate stars, four of which are in Pegasus, two in the Wild Goat, and four in the Waterman.
It will already have been noticed that in this nomenclature single stars frequently appear under several names. Thus the stars of the Crow are sometimes called El-adschmâl, the Camels; sometimes El-chibâ el-jemêni, the Southern Tent; sometimes Arsch el-simâkh el-a’zal, the figure of the throne in the neighborhood of Spica—three quite different names which express so many various notions and have also so many separate authors.
Who were the originators of this nomenclature as a whole?